I’m Right, You’re Wrong and Other Political Truths

Aug. 21 (Bloomberg) -- “The period which immediately
precedes an election, and that during which the election is
taking place, must always be considered as a national crisis.
... As the election draws near, the activity of intrigue and the
agitation of the populace increase; the citizens are divided
into hostile camps, each of which assumes the name of its
favorite candidate; the whole nation glows with feverish
excitement.” -- Alexis de Tocqueville, “Democracy in
America,” 1835

I can’t stand the people on your side. Not you,
particularly. You’re fine. It’s your side that’s ruining
everything great about this country.

Your side lies shamelessly. Your leaders just make things
up. And you just follow them blindly, like sheep -- like blind
sheep. You hang out with people who think just like you, and
listen only to shows where you’ll hear your own views repeated.
It’s an echo chamber of lies!

That’s how your side wins elections. It whips gullible
people into a frenzy about supposed threats to their freedoms
and livelihoods, and it deceives everyone else into thinking
it’s more moderate than it really is. Once the election is over,
though, your side starts pushing its extreme agenda behind the
scenes.

Monstrous Crimes

When your side wins an election, you make out the president
to be some sort of messenger from God. Nothing he does can be
wrong. It doesn’t matter how big a hypocrite he is. He can
campaign on bringing us together and then do nothing but divide
us when he gets in -- but you don’t mind. When our side wins, on
the other hand, the president has to be personally trashed and
accused of the most monstrous crimes.

Your side stirs up hate against the people on my side. The
horrible signs your people hold up at their protests, the venom
your spokesmen spew on television: It’s scary. I wonder how you
can go through life with all that anger inside you.

Your side is simplistic. You never stop and think things
through. That’s how you end up with your ridiculously
inconsistent positions on abortion and the death penalty. You
even fight against legislation that would make your own life
better! How crazy is that?

Honestly, I don’t know whether to be sorry for you or mad.
Sometimes I wish we could just free you from these awful leaders
and their dumb ideas. Sometimes I wish all the people on your
side would just secede and form your own country.

I don’t know if your side even believes in democracy. Your
people are willing to do whatever it takes to win. That’s all
they care about. They don’t care about how much damage their
incivility does to the tone of our national life. It makes me
sad.

Your side is willing to exploit tragedies for political
gain. When your side’s rhetoric leads to political violence, on
the other hand, you start saying how we shouldn’t politicize
senseless crimes. Awfully convenient, isn’t it?

Your side’s extremism just grows and grows. Back in the
day, people on your side had some sensible views and were
willing to work with people on my side. Now your side purges
anyone who would dare to do that.

The people on your side constantly whine about how unfairly
they are treated. You’re always stoking phony outrage against
the political leaders you hate. They are shameless liars, you
say. But why should we take demands for honesty seriously when
they come from your side? Frankly, anything your side gets is
justified payback for all the things you’ve done.

Overly Polite

I’m not saying that my side is perfect. Not at all. I
complain about the people on my side all the time. They’re
wimps. They’re too polite. They let your side get away with
murder. And the press lets it happen, too. The people on my side
always bring knives to the gunfight.

Maybe the most infuriating thing your side does is pretend
that we’re morally equivalent. That’s not true: Your side is
full of much worse people. I can’t even stand seeing them on
television. No way could I ever watch that supposed news network
of yours.

It’s nothing personal. I just hate people like you.

(Ramesh Ponnuru is a Bloomberg View columnist and a senior
editor at National Review. The opinions expressed are his own.)

Today’s highlights: the editors on why the municipal-bond market
is safe and on U.S. circumcision policies; Margaret Carlson on
“legitimate rape” and Paul Ryan; Jeffrey Goldberg on how the
White House views new warnings from Israel; Peter Orszag on the
false promise that competition can fix Medicare; William Pesek
on Asia’s challenge in limiting smoking; William Silber on Paul
Volcker’s early fight against inflation.